The US Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church. The Church was under fire for its anti-gay protests at soldier funerals. The Court ruled 8-1 that free speech is protected even when the content of the speech itself is objectionable.
Illinois is facing a constitutional issue over the Second Amendment and the right to privacy. The Attorney General has order that all persons with concealed handgun licenses must have their names released to the public. State police, however, are refusing to release the names, saying the release of the information possess potential harm to gun owners and non-gun owners alike.
Texas is moving one step closer to putting new restrictions on abortion. A new state bill would require all women who want to get an abortion to first receive an ultrasound. The house and senate have slightly different versions of the bill. The house bill requires a 24hr wait period after the ultrasound before the the abortion may be performed. Oklahoma passed a similar law not so long ago and South Dakota has passed a law that requires a 72hr waiting period from the time of the appointment until the abortion itself.
Texas state lawmakers are currently considering an Arizona style immigration law. According to CBS, the bill is to help state officials enforce the Federal laws already on the books.
In England, the High Court has denied a couple the right to adapt children because they are anti-gay. It is not clear as to weather this decision will alter the courts decision last year when it ruled that private Catholic agencies do not have to consider gay couples in adaption procedures.
The US Supreme Court has recently ruled that private companies like AT&T are not persons and therefore do not possess the same rights to privacy as individuals. In other words, companies lack privacy rights when the Federal government requests information from them. It remains to be seen what type of personal information the government will have access to when it requests records from companies and what the government will be able to do with that information.
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